333 Once Again Departing

A month passed and Alicia had spent her time leisurely with her family. She did not feel any side effects of using up her life force thanks to Blake giving her half of his. As for King Augustus, he began cultivating every night and had already regained the use of half of his magi points. Alicia had also given him the cultivation method she had for him to begin taking in spiritual qi as well. 

Blake also received the cultivation method and quickly raised through the cultivation realms to reach qi condensation in just a month. Because of this, Blake felt more assured that he would be able to stay by Alicia's side and not become a burden in the future. He had also found that he was taking in more magicules as well.

During this time Alicia had settled in the Cultivators and allocated them each a small section of the kingdom to use as their base of operations. These Cultivators of course were under a contract with Alicia which certain rules needed to be followed or they would instantly die. 

"Are you planning on going as Alex?" Blake asked as he stood next to Alicia.

"Yeah, just in case anything happens it would be best to stay under the radar. Why? Are you going to feel weird seeing your fiance as a man?" Alicia asked teasingly. 

"No, I was actually going to suggest that you do go as Alex for that exact reason." Blake was completely unaffected by Alicia's teasing which caused her to feel a little disappointed. 

"Mother will become father?" Frey asked, tilting her head to the side a little confused as to what was going on.

"No, Mother is just wearing a disguise so that people will not recognize me. " Alicia took out the pendant that Grandpa Mu gave her, a modified version that would not add certain things to her body that should not be added. It would give her the appearance of being male and not actually make her male completely. Alicia blushed at the thought of that extra attachment hanging between her legs.

This time around Loeri, Frey, and Blake would be going with her out in the open. Loeri and Frey were both strong enough to fight on par with some of the strongest people on Phantasia. This was not to mention Blakes strength which now contained celestial powers and spiritual qi as well. 

"Alicia!" King Augustus waved Alicia over. 

"Royal Father?" Alicia walked over to where King Augustus was. He was standing off to the side by a white pillar so she could only guess he wanted to talk in private.

King Augustus pulled Alicia into a hug. "First I want to say thank you. I never actually thanked you properly and… If anyone makes you mad please take deep breaths and try not to destroy the planet..." 

*Pfft!*

Alicia let out a laugh as she poked King Agustus. "Royal Father I will not destroy this world, if anything I will protect this world at any cost. This is my home. It was where I was reborn. I will not allow anyone to harm it, not even myself." 

"I know I was just giving you a reminder. Be careful on your trip." King Augustus said and patted the top of her head. 

"Then we are off!" Alicia said as she put her pendant on. Transforming into Alex once again. Frey took up her spot on Alicia's shoulder and with Loeri on her right and Blake on her left, the group vanished from where they stood. 

Grandpa Mu showed up right as they left and looked at King Augustus. "She will be fine. She may even be able to win over some of those major powers and solidify Alastine even more." 

"I know she will. It's just saddening to see how fast she has grown." King Augustus still remembered when she was still just a little girl but now she seemed to be so much more mature.

"Remember she has been through a lot and she has aged seven years while on the cultivation world. Truthfully she is twenty years of age but only thirteen here. She is a born leader and is able to think up plans quickly. Her tactics of guerilla warfare that she came up with to beat the Machine Empire was very good. Though it did end with her destroying half the continent and part of the Immortal Realm. But this sacrifice was needed at that time or we would have been overrun. That girl's only flaw is that she can be impulsive and reckless at times. She goes too far when it comes to helping others. This, of course, I know you know." Grandpa Mu wished Alicia would think before acting sometimes. He was afraid she would eventually get herself killed.

"This I do know. I know all too well. Because of her, I was able to regain half of my strength, and every day I regain more and more of it. She had successfully restored life to all my magi points which is not something just anyone could do. It saddens me that she almost died doing so. I just hope this never happens again. " King Augustus clenched his fist. He owed his newfound strength to his daughter. He owed her so much for what she had done for him.

Alicia who they were talking about suddenly sneezed as she looked at the group of men in front of her holding swords and staves. "You kids should just give up everything you have and leave behind the dragon girl and fairy!" 

Currently, Alicia and her group had run into bandits as soon as they reappeared on the road that led towards the former Blackstone Empire. Letting out a sigh Alicia stepped back and said: "Frey they said they want to take you away from Mother."

"They dare!?" Frey flew up into the air, spiritual qi and magicules began to surge around her. The group of men suddenly felt that they had just kicked a metal wall messing with this group of kids. A great pressure began weighing down on them as their faces turned pale. 

"Wait! We are sorry! We made a mista… Ouch, my eye!" The man who seemed to be their leader yelled out. Frey had suddenly begun her assault punching the man in the eye. Screams of pain began to fill the air as Frey disappeared and reappeared in front of the men punching them over and over. She was so fast they couldn't even see her before they felt pain in their eyes. 

Loeri hid behind Alicia slightly shaking after being traumatized all those years ago by the little demon fairy. She remembered the stabbing pain in her eyes and the small punches that should not have hurt but were extremely painful. 

Alicia pulled out a table and some chairs and had Claire prepare some tea and pastries. The three sat there watching the scene in front of them as if they were watching a play. "Young Miss, Do you mind if Rose and I join you on your journey?"

Claire and Rose were on standby in her space inside her cottage. Starla and Annelia were also inside her space. Alicia had them come along in case they needed help with their cultivation. "Mmm… Once you hit Qi Gathering you can come out to play. But at night I want the four of you to still cultivate."

Claire's eyes lit up. She nodded her head as she said: "Thank you! I have always wanted to travel and see the sights of the world so I was very happy when you said we could come with you to cultivate in your space." 

"I would rather have the four of you with me just in case you have cultivation questions. Uncle Guanting was busy with the settlement of the cultivators and Tang family, so it would not be good to bother him at this time... I only had Jasmine, Jade and Nora stay behind because they need to go to school and Grandpa Mu was also going to teach them a few things. Since essentially they are Celestials now." Nicholai and Blanche were undergoing schooling as well. Philip and Catherine were following Alicia's footsteps and were training as squires. They would go to school once they became knights. This also applied to Alicia. 

"Mmm… Those three are truly hard workers. They spend most of their time in the library trying to learn about this world. Now that they are going to school they will be able to learn even more." Claire had nothing but praise for Alicia's three little sisters. She felt that they were very hard working not only in learning about the world but also in politics. They seemed to have decided to help Alicia behind the scenes more than on the battlefield.

"Mother! I'm done!" Frey said as she happily flew over to the table taking a seat at the small table and chair that was specifically made for her. 

Alicia looked over at the bandits who were laying on the ground in pain. She had no idea what kind of crimes they had committed so she would not just outright kill them. She waved her hand and lifted the group up off the ground before binding them and stuffing them in a box she made from the metal elements in the ground around her. "Blake where is the closest guard post?"

"If I am not wrong it should be about a day's journey from here." Blake replied.

"Then I will just stick them in a void for now." Alicia waved her hand again creating a tear in space before shoving the box with the bandits inside of it. "Remind me to drop them off at the guard station when we get near one." 

"I will." Blake nodded his head before taking a sip of tea. He snuck a glance at Frey who was happily eating a magical ball that Alicia made for her. He felt a little bad for Frey since she had no one from her race around her. He hoped one day that she would be able to find someone she loved and wanted to be with. "Alicia we should search for signs of the fairy race. Frey can't be the only one who had survived during the war."

"I was thinking this too. I missed the chance to find the fairy race of the cultivation world due to the threat of the Machine Empire. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to continue my journey around Phantasia. Hopefully, we will find a group of fairies somewhere." Alicia had the same thoughts as Blake. She hoped to find some friends for Frey that came from her own race. 

Frey, who was eating a ball of Magicules took a glance and Alicia and Blake. A small flash of light passed through her eyes that no one had noticed. She knew that the two were worried about her but she knew that if she told them that she was fine and that they did not need to worry over such things they could just worry even more. She could only keep silent for now.

***

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